Acts 3
1 [One day] Peter and John were going to the Temple [courtyard]. It was three o’clock in the afternoon, which was the time when people prayed [there publicly].
One day Peter and John were going up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
2 There was a man there who had been lame from the time he was born. He [was sitting by] the gate called Beautiful [Gate], at the entrance to the Temple [area]. People put him there every day, so that he could ask those who were entering [or leaving] the temple courtyard to give him some money.
And a man who was lame from his mother's womb was being carried in. Every day people would lay him at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those who were entering the temple courts.
3 As Peter and John were about to enter [the Temple courtyard], the lame man saw them and asked them several times to give him some money. (OR, The lame man said to them several times, “Please give me some money!”)
When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple courts, he began asking for alms.
4 As Peter and John looked directly at him, Peter said to him, “Look at us!”
But Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, “Look at us.”
5 So he looked directly at them, expecting to get some [money] from them.
So the man gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
6 Then Peter said to him, “I do not have any money [MTY], but what I [can do], I will [do] for you. Jesus Christ, [who was] from Nazareth [town], has authorized [MTY] me [to heal you! So get up and] walk!”
But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give to yoʋ. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
7 Then Peter grasped the man’s right hand and helped him to stand up. Immediately the man’s feet and ankles became strong.
Then Peter took hold of him by the right hand and raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles were made strong.
8 He jumped up and began to walk! Then he entered the Temple [area] with them, walking and leaping and praising God!
Leaping up, he stood and began walking. Then he entered the temple courts with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
9 All the people [there] saw that man walking and praising God.
When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
10 They recognized that he was the man who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate in the Temple [courtyard] and ask [people] for money! So all the people there were greatly amazed at what had happened to him.
they recognized him as the man who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
11 As the man clung to Peter and John, all the people were so surprised [that they did not know what to think] So they ran to the two apostles at the place [in the Temple courtyard] that is called {that [people] call} Solomon’s Porch.
As the lame man who had been healed clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the portico called Solomon's, utterly astonished.
12 When Peter saw that, he said to the crowd, “Fellow Israelites, (you should not be surprised about what has happened to this man!/why are you so surprised about what has happened to this man?) [RHQ] And you should not stare at us, either! You seem to [RHQ] think that the two of us enabled this man to walk because we [(exc)] ourselves are powerful or because we please God very much!
When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why are you staring at us as though by our own power or godliness we have made this man walk?
13 [So I will tell you what is really happening]. Our ancestors, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, worshipped God. And now he has greatly honored Jesus, who always served him. Your [leaders] brought Jesus [to the governor, Pilate], so that [his soldiers would kill him]. And [God considers that] in front of Pilate you [were the ones who rejected] Jesus [as your king], after Pilate had decided that he should release Jesus.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of our fathers—has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, even though Pilate had decided to release him.
14 [Although Jesus] always did what was right/just and good, you rejected him. [Pilate wanted to release him, but] you urgently asked Pilate to release (a murderer/someone who had killed people)!
Yes, you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.
15 [God considers that] you killed [Jesus], the one who gives people [eternal] life. But God has greatly honored him (by causing him to become alive again after he died/by raising him from the dead). Many of us saw [him after that, and now] we [(exc)] are telling [you] about it.
You put to death the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
16 It is because [we two] trusted in what Jesus [MTY, PRS] [could do, that he] made this man, whom you see and know, strong again. Yes, it is because we [(exc)] trusted in Jesus that he has completely healed this man for all of you to see.”
By faith in his name, his name has given strength to this man whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.
17 “Now, my fellow-countrymen, I know that you and your leaders did that [to Jesus] because you [and they] did not know [that he was the Messiah].
“Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers also.
18 However, [your putting him to death] was what God had predicted that people would do. [Long ago] he told all the prophets [MTY] to write [what people would do to the Messiah. They wrote] that the Messiah, whom God [would send], would suffer [and die].
But in this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through the mouths of all his prophets, that the Christ would suffer.
19 So, turn away from your sinful behavior and ask God [to help you] do what pleases [him], in order that he may completely forgive you for your sins.
Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped away, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
20 [If you do that], there will be times [when you will know that] the Lord [God is] helping [you]. And some day he will [again] send back [to earth] the Messiah, whom he appointed for you. That person is Jesus.
and that he may send Jesus, the Christ who has been appointed for you.
21 Jesus must stay in heaven until the time when God will cause all that he has created to become new. Long ago God promised [to do that, and] he chose holy prophets to tell [that to people]. (aiōn g165)
Heaven must receive him until the time comes for the restoration of all things, which God declared by the mouths of all his holy prophets long ago. (aiōn g165)
22 For [example, the prophet] Moses said [this about the Messiah]: ‘The Lord (your God/the God whom you [worship]) will cause someone to become a prophet to tell you [God’s message. God will send him] as [he sent] me, [and he will be] from among your own people. You must listen to everything that this prophet tells you [and obey him] [SYN].
For Moses said to our fathers, ‘The Lord our God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to everything he tells you.
23 [Those who] do not listen to [that prophet and obey] him will no longer belong to God’s people, and [God] will get rid of them’.”
Every soul who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
24 [Peter continued], “All the prophets have told [about what would happen during] the time [MTY] [in which we(inc) are living. Those prophets include] Samuel [and all the others who] later also spoke [about these events] before they happened.
Indeed, all the prophets who have spoken, beginning with Samuel and continuing with those who came afterward, also proclaimed these days.
25 You [as well as we(exc)] are the people [to whom God sent the Messiah, as] the prophets said [MTY] [that he would]. And when God strongly promised [to bless] our ancestors, he also surely promised to bless you. He said to Abraham [concerning the Messiah], ‘[I] will bless all people on the earth as a result of [what] your descendant [will do].’”
You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with our fathers when he said to Abraham, ‘In yoʋr offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’
26 [Peter concluded], “[So] when God sent [to the earth] (Jesus, the one who always obeys him/his servant Jesus), he sent him first to you [Israelites] to bless you. [God will] enable you to stop doing what is wicked [and to start doing what pleases him].”
God raised up his servant Jesus and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”
